THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO A HASSLE-FREE YOSEMITE

On 2026-06-10, Representative Tom McClintock (R-CA-5) delivered a floor speech titled "THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO A HASSLE-FREE YOSEMITE" in the House.

THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO A HASSLE-FREE YOSEMITE

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 98 (Wednesday, June 10, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 10, 2026)] [House] [Page H4058] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] THE PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO A HASSLE-FREE YOSEMITE (Mr. McClintock of California was recognized to address the House for 5 minutes.) Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, a full-court press is being waged in the media to bring back Yosemite Valley's restrictive reservation system. Viral videos of crowds on Memorial Day now stoke this movement. Those complaining of crowds during peak weekends, of course, envision that they should be able to enter the park, but not all those pesky other people. Here is a helpful tip: If you don't like crowds, don't go to the beach on Memorial Day and don't go to Yosemite on Memorial Day. In a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, these critics have gone so far as to advocate resurrecting the radical Yosemite General Management Plan. It would have ultimately banned all traffic from the park and required visitors to stop nearly 50 miles away, pack up the kids, the binkies, the blankies, and the backpacks, and then take a government bus more than an hour in order just to set foot in Yosemite Valley. They also favor the so-called Merced River Plan that tried and partially succeeded to eliminate many of the amenities available in the valley, including bicycle and raft rentals, horseback riding rentals, gift and snack shops, swimming pools, and iconic facilities, including the ice skating rink at Curry Village, the Art Center, and a historic stone bridge that dates back to the 1920s. These elitists now press to restore the disastrous reservation system that greatly inconvenienced park visitors throughout 2024. To them, these restrictive measures are the cure to crowds. Yet, to the public, the reservation system meant that an average of 700 cars a day, filled with families that had driven hours to enjoy a day at Yosemite, were turned away at the gates for lack of reservations. Meanwhile, inside the park, parking lots sat half empty. Hotel reservations fell thousands short, and many tourists who booked a room outside the park were refused entry at the gates for want of a coveted registration. Frustrated would-be visitors reported continuing problems trying to obtain reservations on a glitchy website. Now, this is not to say that crowding in the valley hasn't been a big problem, but the solution is better management and more capacity, not restricting access. Before the 1997 flood, there were about twice as many parking places, rooms, and campsites as there are today. Although Congress appropriated funds to restore this capacity, it never was. A succession of incompetent superintendents tolerated inefficient admissions and time-consuming transactions that often produced long lines at the gates. When gateway community representatives approached park managers for relief, their many suggestions and pleas were simply ignored. Under Yosemite's new superintendent, Ray McPadden, these deficiencies are finally being addressed. He is instituting a large number of improvements that have been advocated by the gateway communities for a decade, and he is meeting regularly with local representatives, businesses, and residents. To address gate delays, he has introduced digitized entry passes and installed WiFi to expedite admissions. To decongest the valley, he is promoting and encouraging visitors to enjoy often overlooked features, like Tuolumne Meadows, Mariposa Grove, Glacier Point, and Tenaya Lake. He is adding long-overdue additional parking and will be using real-time data this summer to relieve traffic congestion. Last weekend, the Secretary of the Interior and the superintendent met with local elected and business representatives. To a person, they opposed the reservations system and endorsed the measures now being undertaken to improve the visitor experience. The Yosemite Grant of 1864 was the first time that Federal land was set aside for the enjoyment of the American people. In the original words of the act, that was done with the promise that lands would ``be held for public use, resort, and recreation.'' This led to the creation of the National Park Service with the express purpose ``to conserve the scenery and the natural and historical objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment'' of the same. Well, the environmental left would change ``use, resort, and recreation'' to: Look, but don't touch. John Muir once wrote: The valley is filled with people, yet they do not annoy me. Not so the green left, which has tried for many years to reduce visitor services and restrict public access. The 750,000-acre national park can welcome many more visitors than it does today. All that has been lacking is a visitor-friendly attitude by Yosemite Park management and a willingness to be a good neighbor to the gateway communities and businesses that depend on tourism. With Yosemite's new management, that day has finally come. ____________________